Since the founding of the Society there has accumulated in its possession a large number of legal documents. These vary greatly in type and value. Among them may be found deeds, leases, business agreements such as articles of copartnership, etc., apprentice agreements, and wills. As it might be expected, those documents which throw some light on the customs of the people in the wide field of human relations are of the greatest value, and yet it is often difficult to follow a logical and reasonable standard in collecting such material.

America's first ship to enter the port at Canton was the Empress of China, a New York ship; Major Samuel Shaw of Boston was supercargo. Six months out from New York she arrived at Macao on August 23, 1784. Others of the earliest American visitors to China include Captain Robert Gray sailing the Columbia; ship Hope, James Magee, Master; and the Grand Turk of Salem, Ebenezer West, Master.

Dr. Abraham Flexner, a year ago, sought in his general criticism of American education to put the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in what he thought to be its true and lowly place, by stating that all the Business School was accomplishing was to short-cut experience. “Exactly,” says the Business School, “that is our aim. We hope to lay a foundation of principles by which the future business administrator may make decisions more keen than a lifetime of trial and error would have made possible.” But the function which Dr. Flexner so minimizes is recognized by the Business School as a colossal task, and the members of the faculty are ever seeking devices to aid them in their work.

In the October number of the Bulletin there appeared a sketch of the life of Albert Dibblee, a California commission merchant, whose business papers have been presented to the Society. A brief sketch of the history of Mr. Dibblee's business, as seen through these papers, was included in the December Bulletin. The actual material in these papers is of such excellent quality that it seemed desirable to indicate its character by printing a few selected transcripts.

For the first time, the American Economic Association, in its recent annual meeting, held in Washington, included on its program a joint session with members of the Business Historical Society. Professor E. L. Bogart of the University of Illinois was chairman of the session, which took the form of a round table conference on the subject, “Private Enterprise in Economic History.” Three of the six speakers at the conference were members of the Business Historical Society.

About two years ago work on the preparation of a glossary of mediaeval Italian terms of business was begun by Dr. Florence Edler under the auspices of the Mediaeval Academy of America and the direction of Professor N. S. B. Gras.

The construction of a building takes perhaps a year; the conversion of that building into a fine library takes generations.

The best piece of manuscript material the Society has ever received on the whaling industry surely deserves mention here. The book was presented to the Society about a year ago by one of its members. It is a descriptive catalog of New Bedford whaling ships for the years 1790-1906, prepared by Joseph Dias of New Bedford between 1880 and 1906. He has listed some 650 ships, giving a brief history of each, including dates of various voyages, waters explored, quantities of sperm oil, whale oil and whalebone brought back, as well as the names of the captains and agents for each voyage. One of the most valuable things about this book is that it adds information to every other piece of material that we have on New Bedford whaling.

The two engravings published by Pyne and Nattes in 1800, from which the illustrations (page 6) were made, are reminiscent of a delightful old account book kept by a wheelwright of Charlestown (Massachusetts) during the years 1798-1808. The book, which was among the earliest gifts to the Society, is as entertaining as it is informing. The young man who kept the book made an entry for every single day during the years covered. He records not only a description of the work undertaken each day but also his recreational activities.

In the last number of the Bulletin we sketched the life of Albert Dibblee, a San Francisco commission merchant whose business papers comprise one of the finest collections ever presented to the Society. This article will give a little of the history of Albert Dibblee's business as seen through these papers. The material has all been taken from the letters and account books now available at Baker Library. There are nearly 200 volumes as well as a large quantity of unbound papers in the collection.